“Small-scale hydropower in Austria can and will make its contribution to the measures and developments that are needed in the mobility sector.

And not just in the form of electricity production,” says Austria Small-Scale Hydropower Managing Director Paul Ablinger. But regulatory adjustments are also required for this. For example, slight adaptations to the flat fee for green electricity could spark the construction of a large number of charging stations. Many of the more than 3,500 small-scale hydropower plants in Austria have good transport links and could quickly be equipped with charging stations. The flat fee for green electricity is almost 15,000 euros a year as soon as a power plant at level 5 changes from a full feeder to a surplus feeder. In this form, this flat fee for green electricity prevents the obvious and sensible construction of charging stations at small-scale hydropower plants.